Unit economics across 431 franchise brands
Updated 16 October 2026
Unit economics is the money one location takes in and keeps over a year. Averan read the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) of 431 franchise brands. The FDD is the document a franchisor gives a buyer before a sale. Every library figure below is the median across the brands that report it, and every worked example uses one brand's own FDD figures.
Five figures for one location
| Figure | Library median | Brands reporting |
|---|---|---|
| Average sales per location | $748,885 | 359 |
| Royalty, the share of sales paid to the franchisor | 6.50% | 417 |
| Brand fund contribution | 2.00% | 400 |
| All brand fees as a share of sales | 9.00% | 368 |
| Profit margin, as each FDD defines it | 20.90% | 114 |
| EBITDA only, brands whose FDD names the figure EBITDA | 21.80% | 31 |
One hundred fourteen of the 431 brands publish a profit figure. The other 317 publish sales only. For those brands, profit has to come from current owners or from your own books.
i9 Sports reports average sales of $514,066 per franchise in its 2026 FDD. Its fees total 10.31% of sales, which is $53,000 a year at that average. i9 Sports reports a 25.2% operating profit margin, which is $129,545 a year on $514,066 of sales.
Costs inside the location
One hundred twelve brands publish wages as a share of sales, with a median of 31.73%. Ninety publish occupancy, the rent and building cost, with a median of 10.6%. One hundred thirteen publish cost of goods, with a median of 29.10%.
Those three medians plus the 9.00% fee median add to 80.4% of sales. That leaves 19.6% before loan payments, owner pay and income tax. The four medians come from different brands, so the 19.6% describes no single brand. It shows how many separate lines draw on each dollar of sales.
School of Rock publishes all four lines in its 2026 FDD. Wages take 14.7% of sales, occupancy 9.8%, cost of goods 36.7% and brand fees 14%. The four add to 75.2%, which leaves 24.8%. School of Rock reports net operating income of 24.2% at its company schools, 0.6 points below that remainder.
Sales and fees by category
| Category | Brands in the library | Median average sales | Median fee load |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning and restoration | 60 | $806,421 | 10.18% |
| Health and wellness | 60 | $608,812 | 9.00% |
| Childcare and education | 49 | $633,950 | 9.32% |
| Fitness | 44 | $531,641 | 9.48% |
| Trades and repair | 42 | $998,115 | 8.49% |
| Remodel and improvement | 41 | $770,182 | 8.44% |
| Senior care | 41 | $1,392,371 | 7.06% |
| Pet care | 26 | $635,256 | 9.16% |
| Outdoor and seasonal | 25 | $580,918 | 9.21% |
| Indoor recreation | 18 | $1,558,492 | 9.14% |
| Clinical | 13 | $908,947 | 9.00% |
| Staffing | 8 | $3,658,091 | 8.07% |
| Business services | 4 | $490,580 | 7.26% |
Staffing brands report the highest median sales, $3,658,091, because their billings include the pay of the workers they place. Business services brands report the lowest, $490,580.
Camp Bow Wow reports average sales of $1,089,860 in its 2026 FDD. The pet care median is $635,256, so a Camp Bow Wow location averages 1.72 times the category median. Compare a brand with its own category before you compare it with the whole library.
The middle location sells less than the average
Three hundred three brands publish both an average and a median. At the median brand, the middle location sells 85.5% of the average. The median sits below the average at 91% of those brands. A few high-selling locations lift the average, so the median is the figure to plan a new location around.
Two hundred fifty-eight brands report how many locations reached the average. The median share is 38.00%.
CertaPro Painters reports an average of $2,102,015 and a median of $1,294,333, so the middle CertaPro business sells 61.6% of the average. Lightbridge Academy is one of the brands where the median is higher: $2,664,063 against an average of $2,599,877, a difference of $64,186.
Payback at the library medians
Payback is the number of years of profit it takes to recover the cost to open. A location selling $748,885 at the 20.90% median profit margin, as each FDD defines it, earns $156,517 a year before loan payments and income tax. Against the median cost to open of $164,981 to $327,686, payback runs from 1.1 to 2.1 years. The median EBITDA margin across the 31 brands whose FDD names the figure EBITDA is 21.80%. These medians come from different brands, so the result changes once you use your own brand's FDD.
Camp Bow Wow reports Total Franchise Owner’s Benefit, EBITDA plus owner salary, of 18.5% on average sales of $1,089,860, which is $201,624 a year. Its cost to open is $954,606 to $1,229,536. Payback at those figures runs from 4.7 to 6.1 years, before loan payments and income tax.
What this means for an owner
Most brands publish sales and leave profit out. An owner who wants a profit figure has to build it from the brand's fee schedule and from current owners' costs. The median location sells 85.5% of the average at the median brand, so a plan built on the average starts 14.5% high. Fees take 9.00% of sales at the median brand before wages, rent or goods. Payback at the library medians is 1.1 to 2.1 years, and at Camp Bow Wow's own figures it is 4.7 to 6.1 years, so the brand's own FDD sets the real number.
Check one location
The Franchise Numbers Check is a free tool on this site. It takes one location's figures and sets them against the brand data Averan has published. Each of the 431 brand pages in the Averan Franchise library shows that brand's own figures.
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